"Opportunity knocks only once; if you have the chance, grab it." This memorable quote was given by former Chief PNP Police General Marquez during the open forum for the opening of the Enhanced Learning Package Course on November 14, 2022. PGEN Marquez had experience in officership in both field and administrative aspects, rising from a young lieutenant in PMA to an astonishing 4-Star General Top Cop of the Philippine National Police. His work remained in the organization forever, including the creation of OPLAN LAMBAT-SIBAT, which established a standard in police operations, focusing on consistency and persistence until crime prevention and resolution are achieved. The plan involves statistical identification of crime and surrounding factors, implementation of programs and operations, and statistical analysis to determine their effectiveness. OPLAN LAMBAT-SIBAT has been the foundation of many police operations addressing crime prevention and solutions.
Field commanders devised it using a whole lot of creativity and leadership to innovate and thereby apply it to their respective police stations to be felt by the public. Also, PGEN Marquez emphasizes the virtue of humility to the young breed of officers; he said that it is not a shame if an officer asks a question pertaining to any line of work in the police force; there will be subordinates that will challenge you and your knowledge; subordinates that will help you to learn; subordinates that will motivate you to be the ideal officer that they want as a leader; but in any of these, he said, just do your job, follow the procedure, and never take the shortcut. Above all these, before ending the open forum, he said that we must take care of our family.
We should know as leaders that we should be able to balance the burden of our work as a leader and a member of our family. We will be given more than we can chew in terms of work, but we must not forget to ingest it and talk to our loved ones. He said that we will not be officers for life; power shall come and go; everything shall come and go; but after our retirement, we shall return to our family, our loved ones, the ones who inspired us to be what we are now, so we should take good care of our family, for at the end, it is our family who will be with us until our death. In relation to one of the most important subjects we have now in our course, Incident Command System, PGEN Marquez portrays an organized structure that is feedback-ready, using advanced crime statistics as a tool in accomplishing major police tasks such as crime prevention and crime solution.
He improved the PNP organization by creating a flowchart that defined each personnel's work, including their individual duties and responsibilities. He applied it during Pope Francis's visit in 2015 when he was the Commander. The event posed a security nightmare as the Pope had uncomplicated conditions, one of which was his desired route, considering the millions of Filipinos expected to attend. Threats from terrorist groups added to the unpredictability.
PGEN Marquez applied Major Event Management to successfully handle the situation, ensuring the safe arrival and departure of one of the world's most influential people leading the Roman Catholic Church. The success was not only for the PNP but for the country. ICS taught commanders on the ground what to do, how to organize, where to start, and what to need, creating a standard response. PGEN Marquez is an exemplary commander who led the organization to achieve its goals.
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